The Woman in Suite 11

Laura, usually called Lo, is the protagonist of both The Woman in Suite 11 and Ware’s 2016 novel, The Woman in Cabin 10, and she still experiences residual trauma from the events aboard the ship Aurora. In the time between the two books, Lo moved from the UK to the US and became a mother of two children. She’s an “amazing writer with some seriously impressive credits on [her] CV” (9), but hasn’t had a piece published in five years because she took time off to be a stay-at-home mother. Multiple characters mention that Lo is attractive. For example, her ex-boyfriend Ben says she’s “still hot” after not seeing her for 10 years.

Carrie describes Lo as “absolutely fucking brilliant” (169). However, Lo becomes loquacious when under stress. She repeatedly thinks she’s “talking too much” (118, 210, and 211), as when she interviews Marcus and when the police interview her. In addition, Lo is self-conscious about various things, like not being able to drink like she did before getting pregnant and about being “Such a soft touch. Such a fool. Such a gullible idiot” (305). Carrie easily manipulates and deceives Lo because she’s so trusting.